SOUTHEND CENTRAL MUSEUM & PLANETARIUM

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Southend Museum was built in 1905-6 at a cost of £9,374 and originally housed Southend Library.

The building was commissioned and paid for by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish-born American immigrant, who went from rags to riches in the steel manufacturing industry. Later in his life, Carnegie sold his steel business and systematically gave 90% of his collected fortune away to cultural, educational and scientific institutions for "the improvement of mankind." In total he spent over $55million on building over 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world and was commonly referred to as the "Patron Saint of Libraries".

The museum houses collections of local and natural history and contains a planetarium constructed by astronomer Harry Ford in 1984.